3 2 1 Vacation…

The worst part of going on vacation is waiting for it to start; especially when you are only working two days that week and just got off a three day weekend. Was I a bit worthless right before going on vacation? I would have to say yes. I originally wanted to work from home on the Tuesday and Wednesday following Memorial weekend. My project manager however wanted me on site for at least a couple of days. This wasn’t really because I could get more done; instead it was so the client didn’t see me gone for two weeks. That’s ok with me. Though it did cost a bit of money to get out there and I had to fly out Monday afternoon so I lost a small part of my Memorial holiday. Once on site it was not really that easy to get much done. I was more interested in the coming time off than anything going on. Not to mention the first two days of the week – the only I was working – are normal less productive because of all the status meetings and updates.

Tuesday went fine. Ken my cohort in crime so to speak was not coming until Wednesday, so Tuesday I pretty much only had 1 of the 2 work streams to concentrate on. I came in around 9:00 am as no one gets in to the office until mid morning anyway. I went through the eRoom to survey the work completed the previous week. Wrote some status reports, updated some tracking documents, had a couple quick meetings with the other Deloitte Consultant on site working on the same items as myself, and had a working session with the client. All in all it was pretty typical day and I got a fair amount of work completed. I was however feeling the temptation to go online and continue to plan my trip but I was able to fight it off. MS and I started to joke toward the end of the day how worthless I was about to become. It wasn’t completely true but close.

Wednesday was the second and last work day for me before going on vacation. I had started counting down the hours to flying home the night before. So I knew I had only 9 hours to go! Ken came in late so the first hour or so was relatively unproductive. I talked up MS for a while and was going to find a place to hide when Ken got in. I spent most of the day collecting open items for the main SAP-BW work stream. We are finishing the configuration. There are still several things we need brought in, but the business doesn’t seem concerned about raising the issues they need to so they will be missing those items when we go into testing. Most of the day, I was in an absolutely crazy mood – though I was working – and ended up being slightly disruptive more often than not. I IM’d Ken at random times, kept bringing up my trip, and really had to fight hard not to get online. I did slip from time to time and check things out on the internet, but not that much. I also got a bit annoyed that they kept bring up issues that needed a lot of work to get through as I was only there for the rest of the day. One in particular is a hot button issue for the client but is going to need several discussions and major process changes and business changes that simply could not be done in a day. Why start the process when I am going to be gone for a week and half. Crazy.

The last part of the day seemed to drag forever. It reminded me of being in Middle School on the last day before spring break or summer vacation. You know when you don’t really listen to anyone and just watch the clock. The clock of course is moving slower just because you are watching it! Finally 5 O’clock came around and I was out of there. I was in no hurry but still sped to the airport. I ended up hanging out for an additional ½ hour but come on, I was pretty much useless at that point anyway!

Memorial Day weekend (burgers burgers burgers)

One promise my dentist made about my plastic replacement temporary tooth, was that it would be ready for Memorial Day barbeques. Good thing too because that is about all I did all weekend. Stating with Friday night we (RB and I of course) grilled out at my house before going listen to some jazz over in St. Paul. LJ brought his new GF (new only in the sense that he didn’t introduce her to use for more than a year!) and we grilled out before meeting up with MQ and his GF. Good burgers, but I think we are getting old because instead of having chips, chips, and more chips we actually made peas, mashed taters, and bought a nice fruit salad. The jazz was good to.

Saturday AP and MP had a BBQ at their house for lunch. So after getting up and puts’n around all morning we drove over to their pad. It was fun the newly wed’s were there – unfortunately my server is acting funny and I have not been able to add any galleries to my web site so the newly wed’s photos – and some other people showed up I haven’t seen for a while. Even MN who I haven’t seen in about a year had showed and told us about sponsoring a music festival in Miami. Again I happily ate a hamburger (that is 2 in 24). There is nothing better in my mind than hanging out on a weekend afternoon with a little grill food.

After the first BBQ we head to the other side of Minneapolis for our evening BBQ! MM and JM had a small party at there house. Again MQ made a showing though his GF was at a bachelorette party. We had a good time, ran into a bunch of friends from high school, and saw TR’s baby! He is still kind of a kid but much - much more grown up than before. He actually is a very attentive father and very proud of his little girl. I had to of course ask (though I was joking) JM for reimbursement for my recent dental expenses, as it was a nut at his last party that did my poor molar in. I think he may have briefly thought I was serious, what fun. Again I happily ate a hamburger (3 in 36). After that RB and I went to see X-men 3. I didn’t think it was as good as 1 or 2 but what do I know.

Finally Sunday I had a frozen burger from Friday for lunch and Monday I again had a burger so from Friday through Monday I ate 5 hamburgers! What craziness. But what I can say is that they did a great job on my temporary plastic tooth because it met the challenge and survived to face vacation starting on Thursday!

Plastic Tooth

I may mentioned in the past that in late January or Early February I broke a tooth while downing a hand full of nuts at a friends party. It has not been a fun experience. I broke the tooth biting into a single rock hard peanut, but it probably broke because of a captivity (Kids don’t forget to brush lest you break one of your teeth!). I did not have a dentist, as I hadn’t had dental insurance in a couple of years. So I had to find one. Ok pretty routine stuff I know. But here is the problem, I travel every freaking week. What does this mean. It means that I can only go to the dentist on the few occasions I am in town, these are normally the weekends… You know how many dentist are open on the weekend? Yep that’s right.

So basically I have limited my appointments to Fridays when I can get back. My new dentist is only 2 minutes from my house but it took 3 weeks to get an appointment. The guy across the street, literally, never called me back; he must have too much business and doesn’t need my money! So the first time I went in they did a cleaning (even on the broken tooth) and a full work up on me. Turns out I had ½ dozen cavities in addition to the broken tooth. Man. So we scheduled the next appointment 3 weeks out again… This is the way it has been since February. I figured it out after I get all the fillings in and the cap on my tooth it will be time to go in for my cleaning again. So basically I will have gone to the dentist once a month for 8 months strait! Good thing I don’t have a phobia.

The process of repairing a broken tooth is quite involved. I never realized what was necessary. First they ground down what was left of my original tooth. That was kind of weird because 2/3 of the tooth was there the back half was missing and smooth. Then they built the tooth back up with some sort of metal I think. If it wasn’t metal it was something really hard and grey. That is as far as they have gotten in the last 5 months. Instead of completing the tooth my dentist thought it would be better to fill all or most of the cavities. That’s cool I guess, though it was a pain to get the food out of the crack that was left. So finally on Friday they decided to go ahead and work on the broken tooth.

This time they really went to town. I was in that chair for an enjoyable 2+ hours! Again they ground my tooth down except this time the even grinded the good part down. This is so the cap can slip over the remainder of tooth and the build up they had already used on the tooth. Then they took a molding of the stump with some goo. Actually they did this twice; once to send to a lab to get a permanent cap made, and once to make a temporary in house (good dentist now days don’t have to use the metal ones out of the box). The tempory tooth is made of plastic.

So now I have my first replacement part. Even if it is only a little thing I hope I don’t continue to replace parts with say new knees or arteries in the future! Also it is unfortant that this modification is so low tech, nothing like the Steel Jaws from the James Bond movies. That guy had a whole new mouth and could bite through anything. He even killed a shark in the water! I just don’t think my plastic tooth is up for that. Maybe, just maybe I could try it with the permanent ceramic tooth. : )

Also I won’t be imitating any rap artist with a diamond studded grill in the front of my head. The broken tooth is toward the back of my mouth and cap is strait ceramic. No gold, silver, platinum, diamonds, or any other bling-bling. Unfortunately my insurance didn’t cover such work.

Good Review

A few weeks ago I wrote about a week that went pretty badly, and how for some reason I still felt pretty good about it. The main reason I think I kept in such a good was the review I got on my performance on my project. I received the highest possible rating I could (the top mark of #1 are reserved for yearly reviews the #2 is the highest possible on a project). Now most people will have several of these project reviews going into their year end. One girl I went to training with has been on four projects over the last year, anther three, and another four again. So I have a unique experience because my first role has lasted so long.

Now our review process is relatively drawn out. At the beginning of the year you set goals for the year. These are normally used to try direct your activities for the year. Then at the mid year your counselor reviews all of you performance reviews form project up to that point (if you have any) then talks to everyone you work with to see how you are doing. They also compare the actions you have taken with your goals and give you a rating. The highest rating on mid year is #2. Basically mid year just lets you know whether or not you are on track for the year. Most people I am told will not go from a #5 at midyear to a #1 or #2 but from a #3/4 to #2 or #5/4 to #3 is possible. Mine was on track so that was a good sign.

So at this time of the year several things happen. Your current project must submit a performance review. Your counselor is again calling up everyone you worked with in the second half of the year. They may also call people you worked with in the first half of the year to refresh your memory. And each person must fill out end of year paper work comparing their performance with their goals set at the beginning of the year. Your counselor then goes into a meeting with all of the senior managers that are in your service line and presents your performance, including goal setting, for the year. From this meeting you are given your rating. Later the same managers get together with the partners and make recommendations for promotions. After that the partners make decisions on pay raises.

Unfortunately I don’t know the outcome of those meetings yet, but what I do know is I got a stellar review on my project and since it is the only work I can be judged on I hope this corresponds to my year end rating. I also of course hope that it also helps my compensation! However this year I have no desire to be promoted as I feel I need more experience before I take on the larger roles normally given the next level, but next year I should easily make the next level. Of course people are also partially judged on their in office activities. Local office groups, volunteer activities, recruiting, and so on. So I did make sure to participate in as many activities as I could, but I’m not sure this will have much of an effect until next years review.

Rain days at the Amusement Park Rule!

So you would think that the best days at an amusement park would be in the 70s, 80s, or maybe even the 90s and sunny. At least you would think that. I would argue that this is not the case however. I would argue that unless you are going for the water rides or to a water park you are much better off with a slightly drizzly day in the 50s or 60s. The reason for this opinion you may ask? Simple, less people. The worst part of going to a Cedar Point, Six Flags, Universal, Disney, or any other park is that there are so many other people their. This makes you waste most of your time at the park waiting in line. If there were less people there would be short or even no lines. This is exactly what happens when the weather isn’t all that good.

It has worked for me three different times now. The first was when my cousin came to visit Minnesota back in 2001. We went to the local park on a Wednesday (FYI it also helps to go during the week if possible) and it was cloudy, rained a little, and in the 60’s though it was late June. We literally walked onto almost every ride. We were able to ride every thing we wanted to not just once, or twice, or even three times but four or five times. After six hours we got board and left the park having done everything. This was an eye opener for me. Now I try to go on such days. And so far it has paid off big.

The latest time was a week or so ago at Cedar Point in Ohio. I flew RB into Dayton and she, I, and a coworker of mine drove 2 ½ hours north to Sandusky Ohio. I used a free night stay certificate to get a room for RB and myself, I think MS used alternate travel for his room. We drove up after work and got to the hotel later during the night, planning to go to the park the next day. When we woke up we looked out side and it did not look promising. There were pretty heavy rains and some wind, plus the temperature was pretty low. We waited an extra ½ hour to see if things were going to improve – they did – then decided to go to Wal-mart to get some warmer clothes. RB got a new fleece, a thicker under shirt, and an emergence poncho MS and I got some ball caps to keep the rain off our heads. We decided to head to the park and see if the rides were open.

To our surprise when we got to the park the lady at the gate said every thing was open except for one ride. So we decided to go. It was a bit cold but we lucked out, it didn’t rain much. More then a few rides were closed right away but the ones that were open we had only a couple minute waits. By the end of the day they had opened everything and we road all but one coaster on our list, most of them we road two or even three times. So that was pretty good. We had a blast, though we did get a little cold an tired, we all agreed that we had made the right decision to go. Especially since the next day it rained even more and it looked the crowds were larger. As an added bonus we got quite a few laughs at the high schoolers in the park that were freezing because they didn’t bring warm clothing. Many of them had brand new Cedar Point Sweatshirts by lunch!

Shout out to MS for getting in 24 coasters while I only got 23 and RB did 21….Way to sneak one in at the last minute. BTW the top line dragster is crazy. 0-120mph in 3 seconds, you are shot strait up 400+ feet then do a barrel role on your way down. Of course at that speed the ride only last 20 seconds; but what are you going to do?

Between those two visits I also went to Six Flags with AP, MP, and MN back in probably 2003 on Labor day. Again it was over cast and a bit rainy, and again the story was the same. We got to ride everything a couple of times. This also brings up another strategy for beating the crowds; go at the beginning or end of the season. Half the reason both Six Flags and Cedar Point were so empty was because they were at the extreme end of the seasons (JC and I also saw small crowds at Cedar point a few years ago at the end of the season and on a Monday). If you wait for school to be out your all done the place is going to be packed! You might as well bring some entertainment for the 2+ hour line waits.

And Yes I probably do spend too much time at amusement parks, I have made seven trips to parks in the last six years and will probably go a couple more this year!

My Travel Pet Peeves

So now that I have been traveling for about a year or so I have a few pet peeves about my other travels. Now since I try to be as calm as possible and just assume things are not going to go perfectly smoothly I really don’t get bothered much by normal delays or weather, at least not as much as I used to. Mostly I get bummed out by my fellow passengers. So here is what I think you should not do while traveling.

1. Being lost. Not knowing your way through the airport, holding up security, or taking up the gate agents time for stupid questions. I have no problem with people moving slow, needing to find their way, or asking questions. I have a problem when this is due to people not listening or paying attention. In line to for security they tell you take your shoes and jacket off, have your boarding pass out, and put all metal and electronics through the scanner. So when someone holds up the line because they didn’t do these things it kinda pisses me off. Same if they stand in the middle of the airport blocking people when they are lost. Get to the side and look at the over head signs. Also listen to the announcements don’t go up and ask the gate agent when the plane will get here 2 seconds after they announce a 2 min delay.

2. But I’m an elite member. Fine that doesn’t mean you can be an ass. Just because you made silver the last week of the year doesn’t mean you are special. Anyone who does any traveling makes it. So when you can’t get upgraded, get on the plane first, get through the elite security line (normally for gold and platinum) don’t wine. Especially when it is Monday morning, you are traveling between two large hubs. 70% of the plane is probably elite. Get over it. Same thing at the hotel, just because you are a member of the hotel’s travel club you can behave yourself. While you have stayed 15 nights in the last year I have stayed 215 nights you aren’t that special. In fact FYI I probably stole your room because I was polite.

3. Use the space under the seat in front of you. If you are traveling on a busy flight and have 2 bags, one goes in the seat in front of you and the other goes in the overhead. If you put both in the over head some else may not get to even put one up there. I don’t see where someone should make someone else door check their bag and have to wait for their luggage just for a little leg room. Come on you bought the cheapest seat on the plane, you may be silver elite but again don’t be an ass. If you want more leg room check your bag, pay for an upgrade, or pay for the exit row.

4. Sit down and shut it. Everyone is trying to get on the plane so stop getting out of your seat to get more crap out of your bag. It’s a 2 hours flight you aren’t moving in. Put you carry on in the overhead and your laptop bag under the seat, sit down, and don’t make a commotion. I don’t understand when people have to dig in their bags 5 or more times while people are trying to get seated. While I may get on first it still bothers me to watch these yahoos get up, play in their bag, back up the line of people trying to get to their seats, then sit down again. Over and Over. Come on knock it off.

Well that is about it most of what bothers me is people that have no clue, and I don’t think they ever will so I will continue to watch, be annoyed, but I guess on occasion laugh because they are just making traveling harder on themselves.

Seriously…It was a bad week.

I don’t know why I was in such a good mood all week. In most respects I had a bad week. Just about anything that could go wrong did. Yet my mood was pretty jovial most of the time. Even when NWA for the umpteenth time had flight delays and I missed my connection in Detroit. I was actually expecting something like that so it wasn’t that big of a deal. Even when they couldn’t book me on the next 2 or 3 flights I was ok. Instead I canceled that segment and rented a car. Driving for 3 and ½ hours seemed to make more sense than sitting in an airport for seven hours, then flying for 1 and ½ hours, to finally dive the final ½ hour anyway. It was actually kind of nice to just cruise through Michigan and then Ohio on my own, toons cranked, and windows down. When I finally did get to Dayton I was amused to find that I was supposed to take a new hire to lunch that day in the Minneapolis office. Wasn’t sure how that was supposed to work but I fired back I would take him to lunch on Friday. They had in fact decided not to notify me until 50 min before I was supposed to meet him! They must have forgotten that consultants travel or something… Then next day I actually got the notice from corporate that I was the new hires guide. You know, a day after he started. Well I suppose this happens in any corporation.

The next day was relatively uneventful except I woke up with a large cancerous type growth on my face. A nice cold sore had sprouted in the night. Well that’s ok I guess I don’t mind being a freak for a couple weeks. Though, it does hurt when I try to eat as it scabbed in the corner of my mouth. I also found out that I would be flying solo that week as the other analyst I am working with couldn’t make it in due to family issues. This means some delays and all but again I actually didn’t care much. I actually looked forward to a week of tracking things down on my own. So I spent a good portion of the week researching loose ends and tracking down date. That is when I wasn’t tediously administering our online coloration tool. One of the clients simply could not figure it out and it took me more than 3 hours to correct all of the mistakes she had made. But they were such silly mistakes I think I was laughing most of the time and so even that didn’t bother like it normally would.

The only real work related issue I think I had was the fact that mid morning one day my laptop died. I mean black screen, no windows, would not boot up died. After an hour on the phone with our support desk – conveniently outsourced to India – I had a trouble ticket in and was heading into the closest office. When I got to the office I was informed that the tech is only in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Hmm ok that’s cool I have a business information security meeting that afternoon, who needs a computer for that. Oh I guess I do. Well I took up residence in one of the local offices and got a hold of someone from the local support. He had a plan, a scary plan that had the reception swapping my hard drive to a new computer. It worked and I was off – back to the client site. Still the whole event was entertaining so I was more amused than anything.

To top off my work woes for the week: I was back in the home office on Friday and talking to another analyst that started with the firm the same week I did. I find out that his whole team was given – GIVEN – brand new video Ipods! WTF mate. I mean come on! I’m doing a good job where is my new and free video Ipod? Just wondering. I guess I can’t be to mad at someone else’s good luck but it does make you wonder. The difference is his project is billing time and material, making boocoo dollars while mine is a fixed fee project just make boo dollars. Bummer maybe next time eh.

Now that was just the work related stuff. LOL. My truck was also towed from in front of my house. I guess the city figures 1 day notice is enough. They posted the sign on Tuesday and towed on Wednesday. Fun, so that was an additional $200 I really didn’t want to spend. I can’t be super mad I had accidentally taken both sets of keys with me so no one could move it. But still one day notice, that is sub par if you ask me. On Thursday night then, poor RB had to deal with me on the way to, while lost looking for, and while dealing with the city impound lot. So that did finally put me in a bad mood, though I don’t think for long.

But in all fairness it was review week for the project and my review went splendidly. This may have skewed the week to being a good week I think, even with all the extra fun. So since it is the only project I was on my first year it will probably be the basis for my year end review. Hopefully this translates into good things come compensation adjustment time!

Who would have thought that 7 years later

One of the nicer elements of working for the company I do is that they are relatively community oriented. Once a year the company sponsors a day were everyone is encouraged to volunteer a day of their life to various projects. At the local level there are also many activities along the same lines. Our office has recently partnered with a foundation in St. Paul that is dedicated to providing social services that the government does not provide for. One of these services is a day care for disadvantaged youths who are mostly the children of immigrants, single mothers, or the working poor. At this facility the children are taken care of, taught the basics, and they participate in activities that help them to become well adjusted kids. All around it seems to be a very productive program that is valued by the community. The organization it self does not always understand their own impact.

To illustrate this they told us during a tour and info session about a play they had the children put on for their families. It was a very simple activity with songs, decorations made by the kids, and held in the facilities small gymnasium. Small is the word here, the room is maybe 80 ft by 30 ft tops. The day of the show the staff had put out some refreshments, chairs, the typical setting for such an event. They were amazed to find the children not only brought their parents, but also their brothers and sisters, grandparent, aunts and uncles, and anyone else that could make it from their family. Now, besides the fact that the day care did not have the seating or refreshments for some many people, it was one of the first times the staff realized how big a part their day care played in these peoples lives and how positive effect it has.

This is one of many of the services the foundation as a whole provides to the residents in St. Paul and my company has decided to focus many of our volunteer activities with them. The first activity this spring was getting the outdoor play area ready for the day care. General labor – which believe it or not was what everyone wanted – moving dirt and wood chips, as well as getting a garden area ready. The day was actually pretty good for the work, overcast and a bit drizzly. It made a mess but kept you cool while working. We started the day taking a tour of the facilities and hanging out with the kids for ½ hour or so; then it was off to work. The amount of wood chips to move was incredible, there were easily 3 small dump truck loads. Before lunch we were lucky to have moved maybe a quarter of the amount needed to complete the task and it was looking like we may not be able to accomplish all we had set out to do.

Interestingly there was a bobcat on site but no driver; he was due after lunch. I had actually put down on my application that I had a lot of experience operating skid-steer loaders and we had joked about getting the keys and going to town. Well after lunch we found the driver wasn’t coming anymore, and we worried that we would not finish. Well, I actually got the ok and the keys! I hadn’t driven a bobcat in like 7 years! I put the special skill down more as a joke than anything…. But to be honest it came back with in ½ hour of driving and it was a good thing it did too. I was able to get all of the chips moved to the general location they were needed in an hour and ½ and it was easy to spread them around from there. And it was nice for me because by this time it was getting cold and the bobcat was inclosed with a heater. LOL

Who would have thought that skills I developed almost a decade ago would have come in so handy now. I spent a lot of time and effort to get a bachelor’s degree and here I was – in my first job that required higher education – driving a bobcat again. And it was nicer bobcat than I had ever driven before. I was used to 25+ year old models that uses levers and clunky controls, that have no heaters, and smell funny. This was a dream machine with a small computer controlled ignition, hydraulic controlled parking break, and an environmental control system including air conditioning. Nice. It was fun getting in and playing but all in all it was really nice to do some thing for the day care that they could not have done on their own. They just don’t have the budget for niceties like landscaping.